Harnessing the body’s natural targeted protein degradation system to treat diseases

Beyond Biotech - the podcast from Labiotech

C4 Therapeutics (C4T) is a leader in the targeted protein degradation (TPD) field, with two oncology drug candidates currently in clinical trials and collaborations with pharma companies like Merck, Biogen and Roche.

The clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company is dedicated to creating a new generation of medicines using its TORPEDO platform to design and optimize small-molecule medicines to address difficult-to-treat diseases.

TORPEDO can design molecular glues and heterobifunctional degraders, giving C4T the capability of targeting almost any disease-causing protein.

C4T’s degrader medicines are designed to harness the body’s natural protein recycling system to rapidly degrade disease-causing proteins, offering the potential to overcome drug resistance, drug undruggable targets and improve patient outcomes.

C4T is led by CEO and president Andrew Hirsch, who is this week’s guest on the podcast.

01:17-03:01: About C4 Therapeutics
03:01-05:07: What is targeted protein degradation?
05:07-06:21: What kind of diseases can TPD be used to address?
06:21-10:53: What are the different TPD strategies: PROTAC, molecular glue, lysosome-targeting chimaera (LYTAC), and antibody-based PROTAC?
10:53-12:43: How are those strategies applied?
12:43-13:59: How is TPD improving on current treatments?
15:39-18:24: What is your discovery program, TORPEDO, and how does it work?
18:24-25:19: About C4T clinical trials
25:19-26:13: Reaction to the ESMO presentation
26:13-28:50: Partnerships with pharma companies
28:50-31:26: Are there any hurdles or challenges in using TPD?
31:26-33:23: The future of TPD

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Chapters

1. Harnessing the body’s natural targeted protein degradation system to treat diseases (00:00:00)

2. About C4 Therapeutics (00:01:17)

3. What is targeted protein degradation?
 (00:03:01)

4. What kind of diseases can TPD be used to address? 
 (00:05:07)

5. What are the different TPD strategies: PROTAC, molecular glue, LYTAC, and antibody-based PROTAC? (00:06:21)

6. How are those strategies applied?
 (00:10:53)

7. How is TPD improving on current treatments?
 (00:12:43)

8. What is your discovery program, TORPEDO, and how does it work?
 (00:15:39)

9. About C4T's clinical trials
 (00:18:24)

10. Reaction to C4T's ESMO presentation
 (00:25:19)

11. Partnerships with pharma companies
 (00:26:13)

12. Are there any hurdles or challenges in using TPD?
 (00:28:50)

13. The future of TPD (00:31:26)